story: (CNN) -- An American man who was held in Aruba for nearly four months in connection with the disappearance of his traveling companion insisted Thursday he had nothing to do with her vanishing but said it will "weigh heavily on me for a very long time." 
  
  "I feel as if a person I cared about, a companion ... has disappeared on my watch," Gary Giordano said on ABC's "Good Morning America" in his first interview since being released from custody in Aruba earlier this week. 
  
  Giordano, 50, had been held in the disappearance of 35-year-old Robyn Gardner of Maryland. Giordano told authorities the two were snorkeling on August 2 when he signaled to Gardner to swim back. When he reached the beach, he told police, Gardner was nowhere to be found and has not been seen since. 
  
  "I only looked back when I hit a rock," he said, according to a transcript of a police interview obtained by CNN. "Before that, I did not look back. I was busy saving my life." 
  
  Aruban judges repeatedly granted requests to extend Giordano's detention, while the investigation continued. But last week, a judge rejected prosecutors' request to hold Giordano, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, for an additional 30 days. He was released Tuesday. 
  
  A three-judge panel of Aruban judges held a hearing Wednesday to review the decision to release Giordano, but upheld it. ABC aired a clip of an emotional Giordano learning of the decision at the airport. "I'd accepted the fact that they were going to keep me from my kids forever," he told reporters in the video. 
questions: Who is the article about?
questions: Where was he at for an extended period of time?
questions: How long was he there?
questions: Why?
questions: What was their relationship?
questions: What were they doing before she vanished?
questions: When exactly did he notice she was gone?
questions: How old is he?
questions: Was it a group of 4 magistratesthat kept the decision to send him home?
questions: How many?
questions: Who did he believe he would never see again?
questions: What was the date of the incident?
questions: Why did he say that he didn't notice she was gone?
questions: Was his confinement ever extended?
questions: Why?
answers: Gary Giordano
answers: Gary Giordano
answers: Aruba
answers:  Aruba for nearly four months
answers: four months
answers: four months 
answers: he held in the disappearance of 35-year-old Robyn Gardner
answers: held in the disappearance of 35-year-old Robyn Gardner of Maryland.
answers: traveling companion
answers:  traveling companion
answers: snorkeling
answers: snorkeling 
answers: When he reached the beach
answers: When he reached the beach
answers: 50
answers: Giordano, 50
answers: no
answers: three-judge panel 
answers: three-judge panel
answers: three-judge panel 
answers: his kids
answers: me from my kids 
answers: August 2
answers:  August 2 
answers: he was busy saving his life.
answers: was busy saving my life.
answers: yes
answers: for an additional 30 days
answers: so the investigation could continue
answers: while the investigation continued